Posted at Oct 12/2007 09:42AM:
Elisa Foster: The Byzantine Empire inherited the legacy of Greece and Rome after the Classical Period. As such, the people of the Byzantine Empire maintained trade links with North Africa and Western Europe after the fall of Rome. They ruled the Mediteranean from Constantinople, the primary urban center of the Empire. Other important cities included Damascus and Aleppo, which would eventually become part of the "dar-al-Islam." While their primary opponents, the Sasanians, witnessed a diversity of religious traditions throughout its empire, the Byzantine Empire was dominated by Christianity and accordingly, the Orthodox Church played a very significant role in this civilization. The church was not a monolithic entity, however, and divisions between the monophysites and the diophysites created strife within the empire. Constantinople supported the diophysites, who believed that Jesus had two natures - both human and divine. The Byzantine Empire, unlike the Sasanians, persisted as Islam grew in this region. Accordingly, the Byzantines engaged with the Arabic-speaking world, evidenced at sites such as Nabatean (Petra) and Bosrat-al-Sham (Bosra)

Posted at Oct 15/2007 09:26AM:
Ian: On a more basic level we should note that much of the territory of the new Muslim polity was that of the Byzantine empire. How was this significant in shaping that new state and its cultural and religious make up? Should we talk of the new Muslim empires as complete ruptures from the Byzantines?
The other importnat element is that Byzantium still posed a military and cultural/religious threat to the Muslim state.

Posted at Oct 18/2007 01:20AM:
Sebastian Gallese: Points on influence of the Muslim world

• Byzantine coins were used even after Muslim conquest.
• Christian populations make up a large demographic of Muslim state (most elites fled).
• Byzantine architecture and art still used in Mosques and other large public works.